Date

Author

Metadata

Citable URI

As published

DOI

10.5670/oceanog.2009.106

Abstract

Ocean acidification lowers the oceanic saturation states of carbonate
minerals and decreases the calcification rates of some marine organisms that provide
a range of ecosystem services such as wild fishery and aquaculture harvests, coastal
protection, tourism, cultural identity, and ecosystem support. Damage to marine
ecosystem services by ocean acidification is likely to disproportionately affect
developing nations and coastal regions, which often rely more heavily on a variety
of marine-related economic and cultural activities. Losses of calcifying organisms
or changes in marine food webs could significantly alter global marine harvests,
which provided 110 million metric tons of food for humans and were valued at
US$160 billion in 2006. Some of the countries most dependent on seafood for
dietary protein include developing island nations with few agricultural alternatives.
Aquaculture, especially of mollusks, may meet some of the future protein demand
of economically developing, growing populations, but ocean acidification may
complicate aquaculture of some species. By 2050, both population increases and
changes in carbonate mineral saturation state will be greatest in low-latitude regions,
multiplying the stresses on tropical marine ecosystems and societies. Identifying costeffective
adaptive strategies to mitigate the costs associated with ocean acidification
requires development of transferable management strategies that can be tailored to
meet the specific needs of regional human and marine communities.

Ocean acidification is increasingly recognized as a component of global change that could have a wide range of impacts on marine organisms, the ecosystems they live in, and the goods and services they provide humankind. ...

Ocean acidification from the uptake of anthropogenic carbon is simulated for the industrial period and IPCC SRES emission scenarios A2 and B1 with a global coupled carbon cycle-climate model. Earlier studies identified ...

Calcification in many invertebrate species is predicted to decline due to ocean acidification. The potential effects of elevated CO2 and reduced carbonate saturation state on other species, such as fish, are less well ...

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